Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Escaped one sketch class in Zoom last week and went to The Old Mission San Juan Bautista CA. This morning I was in the rush to join, but mistakenly clicked the wrong Zoom meeting button, and got in to the Santa Fe location. Then I had to wait to explain why I got into their group before I quited so I wasn't being rude. Finally, I got into the right class and it was nice to practice and study on people's faces again. The challenging part is always not enough time to capture little more information to express the persons character. Usually I use a small size pad for sketching. I bought a 18"x12" 70 pages sketch book years ago, and had only started to use last year. Now it looks has a quarter of the book left. Definitely I would love to continue sketching, probably will search for a slightly smaller size sketch book next time.

My second visit to this old historic town in three days! A lady was watering all the plants, she guided me through the beautiful garden to find an open restroom. Everything was very peaceful in the morning. Met several local artists and several from different places, even one originally from the UK, Another was here from Missouri to visit her son. One used to live near Berkeley area with her beautiful and friendly dog Coco. I found a spot started with my small sketch nearby Coco. Overdressed again, had to take off one layer. This town has a lot succulents and cactus, so I used my imagination to replace the tree on the right with a large cactus After my work was finished, I notice the old tree I wanted to take a better photo of two days ago, but it was halfway cut down, found out sadly that it was dead. Definitely there were more cars on the road. Hope they were all good sign to prove that covid-19 is under control....   (March 24 2021)

Drove over 100 miles to paint with other artists on location. It was gray and cold in the morning, hard to believe it is past the middle of March. We still need to turn the heater inside the house. But the sun came out after I arrived. My first time visiting this quiet and historic small town. Felt so peaceful and could hear rooster crowing, can't even remember when was the last time I heard that. Might forget how to paint a on cold days, Used a little too much water, it took longer time to dry, but I was patient enough to wait. Might forget how to be creative, not very happy to paint the tree towards the opposite side of the building. Several artists came by to say Hi while painting. Spent a little bit time walking around after. Some small businesses had opened, and a few people in the town, but it was only Monday. Would like to come back to paint more, only a little but far. No traffic to go, but a little traffic going home. I guess that it is a good sign that everything is start...

(March 16 2021) Overdressed today and painted at the location outdoors, just because it was very cold yesterday and frost was on the rooftops this morning. We even could see the snow on atop of the distant mountains. Airplanes flew overhead. That made me wonder when it will be safe to travel again... It has been exactly one year since the challenging COVID-19 lockdown started. Started with a small sketch, ended up to I painted a totally different angle of this yellow sailboat called "Golden Fin". So nice being outdoor with fresh air...

Haven't gone out painting for over a week. Just wish I could physically overcome these allergy attacks. Short one hour, feels like jetlag. Arrived late this Monday morning to a Zoom sketch for an hour, excuse was that I was sneezing like crazy, just because one of my indoor plants has one little blooming flower. Those portrait sketches I did, had noticed that each one of them had the glasses on. For quick sketch, every second counted, but the glasses added more work. Also, I tried to draw smaller size, and the smaller area even harder to work with charcoals, I never sharpen my charcoals anyway. Enjoyed the practice though.

"There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself."(Don't remember who said it) Joining Monday morning zoom in sketch. Just happened that they were all women I drew. Tried to express each of their character in minutes, need to keep practicing...

Didn't go out to avoid the spring pollination. There was a watercolor group painting out this morning, I didn't want to miss it. But my eyes were super itchy, and my nose running like crazy while driving to the location... There are hundreds fruit trees blooming now, so were the mustard plant next to the library. Looked gorgeous, and it was a beautiful day! I almost gave up by driving past, then made a U-turn. I turned into a small road, and it was the parking lot of a preschool next to the orchard. There was a creek in between the orchard and the school. Got out of my car, saw the blooming trees in the distance and found this new spot to paint. Not too much pollen there to bother me either. Hasn't been much rain since the end of last year, the creek was dry. Happy to be out and able to paint, though I didn't meet a single person, hahaha...

Not really happy with the painting I did at this location. Went back and move away a little bit from the spot I did last week. Nice day but windy, there was no clouds hanging in front of the mountains either. Tried to work the contrast. Robin another artist from San Francisco brought a box of lemons from her tree to share. She was very thoughtful, had the cute not on the box, and the paper bags. So appreciate all the lemons, I used the lemon juice to reduce my allergies.  (February 24 2021)